Trumping Ethical Norms
Questions of ethics and politics have a long tradition in the classroom as well as the political world. Those who act in the political realm including the media, political strategists and consultants, educators, and religious leadersare in professions for which a clear code of conduct or an accepted set of ethical norms exists. By contrast, Donald J. Trump, as candidate and as President, has upended the political and ethical context in which he and others operate. This book explores emerging ethical questions that face professionals interacting with a new executive order. Some say the age of Trump is unique and that the norms of ethical professional behavior must be bent to meet this challenge. Others maintain that responding to someone like Trump is precisely why their profession has ethical norms, and that they must put their judgments on hold and respond in what has always been deemed the appropriate professional manner. Each chapter opens with an introduction setting the framework of ethical analysis for a particular profession, is followed by original contributions by notable practitioners, and concludes with a set of questions for students and other readers to ponder and discuss.
L. Sandy Maisel is the Goldfarb Family Distinguished Professor of American Government at Colby College. From 2003-2012 he served as the founding director of the College's Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement.
Hannah E. Dineen is a graduate of Colby College and a producer at The Morning Report at Portland, Maine's WCSH-6, an affiliate of NBC.
First published 2018
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2018 Taylor & Francis
The right of L. Sandy Maisel and Hannah E. Dineen to be identifi ed as the editors of this Work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-815-35937-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-815-35938-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-12090-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Out of House Publishing
Erica Asch received her rabbinic ordination in 2008 from Hebrew Union CollegeJewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. After three years of community organizing with the Industrial Areas Foundation, she served as an assistant rabbi at Temple Sinai in Washington, D.C., and then moved to Augusta, Maine, in June 2013. Rabbi Asch currently serves as the rabbi of Temple Beth El in Augusta, Assistant Director for the Center for Small Town Jewish Life, and Jewish Chaplain at Colby College. She is on the board of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.
Whit Ayres is the founder and President of North Star Opinion Research, a public opinion research firm located in Alexandria, Virginia. Ayres is a leading Washington, D.C. political consultant with over 30 years of experience in polling and survey research for high-profile political campaigns and associations. The American Association of Political Consultants selected him as the Pollster of the Year in 2012. Ayres published 2016 and Beyond: How Republicans Can Elect a President in the New America , in 2015.
David W. Brady holds the Bowen H. and Janice Arthur McCoy Professor of Political Science in the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is the Davies Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He has published seven books and more than 100 articles and chapters in journals and books, with topics ranging from the relationship between leadership and economic development to the causes of political polarization. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Hannah E. Dineen is a graduate of Colby College with majors in Government and English. Her senior independent study examined ethical constraints that exist in various professions. She is currently a producer at The Morning Report at WCSH-6, the NBC affiliate in Portland, Maine.
Anna Greenberg , Ph.D., is a partner in the polling firm of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. Joining GQRR in 2001, she has over 15 years of experience polling in the political, non-profit and academic sectors. Previously she taught public opinion and survey research methodology at Harvard. She has been the lead pollster in many successful campaigns and won the Pollster of the Year award in 2014 from the AAPC for her work with Mayor Bill de Blasios campaign for mayor of New York City.
Aaron R. Hanlon is an assistant professor of English at Colby College. His areas of expertise are eighteenth-century British literature, transatlantic literatures c. 1600-1800, the novel, epistemology, enlightenment/science writing, and theories of exceptionalism. His book, The Politics of Quixotism , is forthcoming from University of Virginia Press. Hanlon has published essays about politics, literature, teaching, and higher education in nationally circulated publications.
Clark Hoyt is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist. He was a reporter, editor, Washington bureau chief and vice president of news during a 38-year career with Knight Ridder, then the nations second largest newspaper company. He served as the public editor of The New York Times , the readers representative, between 2007 and 2010 and later held various positions at Bloomberg News, including independent senior editor, or ombudsman.
Yunus Lasania has served as Imam at Masjid Al-Madina in Springfield, Ohio since 1990 and is active in interfaith outreach in Springfield and surrounding areas. He was born and raised in the United Kingdom and studied Islamic Theology at Darul Uloom, one of the most prestigious Islamic institutions. As part of his theological training, he has committed the entire Quran to memory.
Paula D. McClain is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, Dean of the Graduate School, and Vice Provost for Graduate Education at Duke University. A Howard University Ph.D., her primary research interests are in racial minority group politics, particularly interminority political and social competition, and urban politics. She also co-authored Can We All Get Along? Racial and Ethnic Minorities in American Politics , now in its seventh edition, and American Government in Black and White , now in its third edition. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
L. Sandy Maisel is the Goldfarb Family Distinguished Professor of American Government at Colby College. From 2003-2012 he served as the founding director of the Colleges Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement. He is the author or co-author, editor or co-editor of more than 20 books and has written scores of chapters and articles that have appeared in political science journals and books. He has taught a seminar on Ethics and Politics for the past 15 years.
